Junior's cheesecakes are deservedly famous. Buy a slice in New York or make your own.

It was high noon in Manhattan. Time for a soothing, comfort-food lunch.

Without a moment's debate, I headed for Junior's restaurant in Times Square. It's an outpost of the flagship Brooklyn restaurant that's as classic as the bridge and as old-timey as Ebbets Field and the Dodgers, before the team left for Los Angeles.

Getting a taste of Junior's cheesecake became a priority "bucket list" item several months before this day in New York City. It happened within minutes of paging through Alan Rosen's new "Junior's Dessert Cookbook: 75 Recipes for Cheesecakes, Pies, Cookies, Cakes and More" (Taunton Press, $24.95, 192 pp.)

Rosen is the third generation of a family that started out with a soda fountain that grew into a sandwich shop and then became a restaurant in 1950. He creates the urge to make a cheesecake pilgrimage with pages of recipes and photos of Junior's cheesecakes and its other New York City classics, from egg creams to black-and-white cookies.

The Times Square location makes getting an unforgettable slice of Brooklyn easier than trekking to the borough. It is near the sights you want to visit, the stores you want to shop and the Broadway shows you want to see.

The restaurant opens early (at 6:30 a.m.) and closes late (midnight or after, except on Sundays when it goes dark at 11 p.m.). That means you can have cheesecake for breakfast or as an after-theater treat as well as for dessert with lunch or dinner.

When Rosen opened Junior's at Times Square in 2006, he predicted it would be "the longest-running show on Broadway." Although it will be some time before it matches "The Phantom of the Opera," "Cats" or"Les Miserables,"I believe it will happen.

"Junior's isn't trying to be Le Cirque. We're known for comfort food at its best. I'm just as concerned about the quality of your broiled salmon, fried chicken or deli sandwich as I am about your cheesecake," Rosen says.

For a foodie, sensing the wondrous richness of a forkful of Junior's cheesecake as it melts and blankets the tongue can be as exhilarating as standing on the top of the Empire State Building or seeing the city's stunning skyline from the deck of the Staten Island Ferry.

If you can't make it to the Times Square location (or other Junior's locations in Brooklyn and Grand Central Station), Rosen offers other options, including having a cheesecake delivered to your home.

You also can take a do-it-yourself approach. Create a Junior's cheesecake in your kitchen, thanks to his new cookbook.

Junior's bakers make thousands of cheesecakes each week. In a year's time, they make enough cheesecake batter to pave the Brooklyn Bridge with a traffic-stopping layer.

"For two generations, our cheesecake recipe was a treasured family secret." Rosen says. "My grandfather and his baker created it because he believed it would make his restaurant stand out from all the others. It still is the base for every cheesecake we make. I admit worrying that he'd roll over in his grave when I first printed it."

Nevertheless, he adds, "I really wasn't afraid to put the recipe out there. I wanted to be sure that home cooks would have good results. But I also hope they'll come to Junior's for cheesecake when they don't feel like making it."

It hasn't hurt the restaurant. "Our business always has been great. As with any retail store, we saw a little downtick during the economic issues the country was facing. Now, we're back to normal."

He says Junior's meals and cheesecake are "affordable pleasures," and adds, "Cheesecake, and corned beef and pastrami sandwiches for that matter, are all very, very comforting."

But how will the emphasis on eating more healthfully affect cheesecake sales or a home cook's willingness to make a cheesecake? "People will not stop eating cheesecake," Rosen says. "When they make a careful decision to have a slice, they'll make sure it's worth the splurge. Nobody's going to live 365 days a year without a slice of cake."

When making a cheesecake, Rosen says, "It should be rich and creamy, without being too heavy. There needs to be the right balance of flavors. It shouldn't be overpowered by vanilla and it shouldn't be overly sweet either. You want to be able to taste what it is — cream cheese, fresh eggs, sugar and heavy cream with a touch of vanilla."

He concedes there's a learning curve to making cheesecakes.

"Making the thin, spongecake layer that we use on the bottom [instead of the typical graham cracker crumb crust] is a little tricky. When you're mixing the cheesecake's batter, you don't want to mix too much air into it. You've got to bake it in a water bath to keep the bottom from burning before the rest is done. The first few times you do it, it'll take a while. But it'll become easier and easier."